WSB SPONSORS

Cooper Elementary court fight: Bus schedule set for court support

As we’ve reported in coverage of the upcoming court hearing on the challenge to the Cooper Elementary School closure, those who’ve brought the case are asking for supporters to join them in court this Friday. Joy Anderson just sent their flyer with information on two buses that have been arranged to offer transportation downtown – see it here. The hearing on the “motion for summary judgment” is at 10:30 am Friday, King County Superior Court Judge Greg Canova‘s courtroom. (Previous stories, with links to legal documents from both sides, are here and here.)

Sorry to be an off-topic whiner, but could WSB please change the exterior photo that it uses to illustrate virtually every article about Cooper? I’m eager to see what the campus looks like from a different angle and distance. Thanks.

That’s the official school district photo and that’s all I got. Sorry. Have used other photos in context (follow the link on our schools page to archived Cooper coverage, you will see photos of the garden, the bouncy houses at the closure celebration on Sunday, etc. etc. etc. etc.) but the rest of the sides look like, well, sides and do not work for icon purposes.

It is sad to me that people can’t let go. This is not a legitimate lawsuit. To the three unhappy plaintiffs: you all had your chance to speak your opinion. The School Board didn’t agree with you. MOVE ON, please stop wasting reasources that the rest of us would like to have spent on kids, not lawyers. Vote against the current Board members next election if you don’t like the decision they made. You all had your chance to speak, you were heard, please do what is in the best interests of ALL kids and stop.

I am so sick and tired of all of you sanctimonious…”people” telling us to move on.. Wait until it happens to you (or your children) Wait you have been legally wronged, falsely arrested, and you know you are right, and people tell you, oh, “suck it up, stop wasting the Court’s time.” When a person/ entity BREAKS THE LAW, we have a right as citizens of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA to seek restitution. I’m not an idiot whiner,or malcontent- I am a graduate of an Ivy League College and a taxpaying (3 houses in Seattle) citizen, and for you to tell me I have no right to seek restitution because the District broke the law and disenfranchised 300 innocent children, wow, I hope I NEVER run into any of you in a dark alley. Are you serious? Crazy, or just stupid? This is why our veterans died in all of these wars (my dad is a POW of the Korean War, 28 months in a cage,) so don’t get him started on the fact he sacrificed for your right to express and defend yourselves. We are well within our rights to challenge the law. The District was arrogant and stupid, and yes, prejudicial in its closure of Cooper, and I’m not sorry that they now have to spend their resources to go to court. Half of the kids in West Seattle will be sitting in freezing portables thanks to this egregious decision. We should recall the board and FIRE Goodloe -Johnson, yeah, I said it. Their 5 year plan is tantamount to burning down Rome. There will be nothing left of Seattle Schools when they are done. Maybe you all should retake US history, because this is exactly that complacent, “the system knows best” attitude that empowered the NAZI party. Or maybe your attitudes and thought processes are a result in being educated in the Seattle Public schools. I’m so sorry for you. Sheesh, give me a break, you people are pathetic.

PS.
We (the Cooper Community) WILL be voting against the School Board Members, especially Stephen Sundquist, who allegedly threw Cooper on the Closure list AFTER the closure process had begun. (Another No-no) Apparently he forgot that we too are his constituents. He was Cooper’s biggest problem and did NOT advocate for us. If a trained monkey runs against him, I will be voting for the monkey.

To all those People who think we should “get over it and Move On” (and Move Out),

Are you experienced. Have you ever been experienced. Have you ever been evicted from a public building. From a public facility or grounds. No matter whether rightly, wrongly, fairly or unjustifiably. Well I have. Not. Either.

And if I ever almost was I’m sure it was a long, long time ago and I’m sure I would of deserved to be. And I’m sure that if it almost did happen, that it occurred (almost) during the haze of a youthful late night and was stupidly inspired by alcohol. And I’m sure that I have forgotten completely about any such long ago ill-advised adventure, that no damage was done, and that I now admit to nothing.

Sorry about that. Awful early for the iron horse to derail. Back on track now.

Now that I am a mature taxpaying parent I expect that were I today or tomorrow to be evicted from a public building or grounds that I might, at the minimum, be slightly put out (no pun intended) and maybe even down right pissed off (depending on circumstances). I promise you that no alcohol or misbehaviour on my part would be involved. How about you, Move On pushers? Might you be the least bit irritated if same happened to you.

What if it happened to your child. Your elementary school child. From his/her public school building. Could it be that somehow your child was deserving of this treatment. Could it be that you would not come to the defense of and advocate for your child using proper established means and channels. Or should you (we) just move on (and ask you to help your child to hurry up and move out).

Were those brave young men who gave so much on the beaches of Normandy not so long ago an army of sheep, simply following orders from on high. Or did they follow those terrifying orders because they so loved their country and what it offered them, theirs, humanity. A country where one could question authority when appropriate. A great country that allows freedom of speech, whether inspired, eloquent, timely or just plain distasteful. I think they were not sheep nor did they sacrifice in vain. They were all leaders, temporarily willing to be led. And some of them gave so much. And though your use of the phrase “move on” strikes me as thievery, cliche, lazy, and abusive of a well-crafted, important slogan, it is not an insult to our veterans great sacrifices, because they gave to give you the right.
But can’t you just sit back, victory bought and assured, and think to yourself “mission accomplished.”.

So many of us would love to soar with the eagle, wander boldly with the bear, run swiftly with the deer.
But in our self-centered-must-have-it-all world it is quite an achievement to live a peaceful life that, on the whole, provides benefit to society. And to live and let live. And to never find one’s self having coffee with Dietrich Eckart in a 1920’s Munich apartment. Wouldn’t it be funny if Hollywood made a movie where the characters had one of two tattoos on their forehead: either “value-added” or “otherwise”.

More about tee pees.

Hopefully one day soon many of us can smoke a peace pipe (in a longhouse). And agree that every child in Seattle, in the U.S.A., on the planet, deserves to attend school in a facility as nice as Cooper Elementary. Agree that things would be so much better right now if Chief Sealth had been leading us and the Seattle School Board. Instead of (oops, libelous, nevermind). Come wise Indian Chief and show us a better way. Come, as you are, as you were, as I want…..dang it now, I forgot. We killed and/or disrobed all of them. And oh, the white man’s hangover of guilt. Now I guess all we can do is defer to the wisdom of “the founding mothers”? The first root of Pathfinder’s school. The 1st, not the 4th!!! Wow, wish I had that much high quality, high profile immortality going for me. At taxpayer’s expense. Do students have to recite the Seven Names in order to graduate. Are the Names recited at student assemblies.

“The second root of Pathfinder is the root of the gifts of the staff.” and “The fourth root of Pathfinder is the deep root, the wellspring. It is the children themselves.” Well, sadly, Cooper’s 2nd and 4th roots are about to be uprooted. And some folks are not happy about it and are using long-established, historically hard-earned civic means to stop it from happening. And your well written, oh so sensitive public opinion is that these people should move on and hurry up and grab their backpacks and teaching supplies and move out. Nice. Do you work at The Seattle Times.

I think it may be a sad truth of human societies that the more cool and forward-thinking a group of people (a city) thinks it is, the more the exact opposite is the reality.

Tee pees (continued) and annual pow wows too.

Aside: “The third root of Pathfinder is the root of Native American tradition.” Whatever.
When I went to school the third root was associated with scary math. But now math should be fun and all our children will soon magically become theoretical physicists, not just the privileged brilliant few. Embrace your fellow math student, take them by the hand and lead them to higher math. We can all get their together, as a single energized mass, at the same time.

But wait. I won’t allow you to use that aforementioned white-man’s guilt as the head of your spear (tomahawk) to evict my child from her school and accomplish one more land grab. Well, at least not without laughing at you out loud even as you succeed. Because you are funny. This unjust process will have a place in history, though it is a far cry from the horror of Wounded Knee. Keep on bloggin’. And when our school loses we will stand back and with pain in our collective heart (’cause….we got spirit yes we do we got spirit just like…) and maybe a tear in an eye, excuse ya’ll as you fun-loving Northern-European Americans, wearing war-paint and headdress, do your Native-American Indian dance and kiss the sky.

Hey, all that kind of brings Gen. G. Custer into the fray. No.? Go get your kid(s) a Happy Meal At mickee D’s on Ca. Ave. across from WS High. And get a plastic toy replica of the glorious General in full cavalier garb astride a road-warrior style motorcycle. Perhaps another sad truth of humanity, the winners write the history books. Well, maybe thanks to these blogs that will be a bit harder to do.

Dear Move On pushers, have you ever been evicted. You are asking my child to be able to answer that question in the affirmative at a very young age. Don’t agree. Well, if a landlord retains a lawyer to evict a tenant, is it the lawyer doing the evicting or the landlord? I think I know the answer. Well, at least I understand the question anyways.

Unjustified eviction is a scarring experience. And I dislike new unnecessary scars on my young child as much as the next parent. But maybe ya’ gotta be experienced to have the simpatico. What ever happened to walk a mile in my moccasins. How can you possibly claim an insider’s empathy to the Native American experience if you can’t spit out a single word of sorrow for evicted and scattered neighbor’s kids. Pushers are always an odd collection of folk.

So… i am not a parent at cooper, but MANY of my friends are as well as we live in PP and am a pathfinder parent. it’s alway sad, but joy a whoever you are- your 9 page letter was sad. it was sad because it appeared that you were searching…searching for people to blaim. the arbor heights thing did look sketchy. but no where were there quotes from the pathfinder reps. and you speak as though they were hand and hand w/ arbor heights. i think that you are looking for proof and while doing this you’re dragging people down with you. just make sure that you’re using fact and not hearsay.

i will say that i wanted to stand up for our school, but we were asked so many times- not to go spouting off. that this was a time to be understanding and a time not to take any allegations personally. the pathfinder parents have had mounds of dirt thrown on them- for what- for their children attending a school that the district said HAD TO MOVE. there is no choice in the matter- i don’t believe that there was the opportunity to accept or decline the supers plan. Also i would say that your comment on pathfinder ‘allowing’ the autism program to stay is just ignorant. yes i said it. there was a large meeting at genesee hill with the autism teachers- pathfinder is excited and so are they. there is some sadness with the loss of old friends- but they are excited to be in a school community like pathfinders.

there are times when enough is enough. focus your energy on your new school. see what you can do to foster your children.

we had to get over it time and time again when we were told we were going to move… we didn’t get to.. .we had to get over it, move on…we did…

think of all the money that couldbe going to the kids… we could if you’re saying that leagal fees are $55/child @ cooper…. that’s in excess of $165,000 for your half- not even looking at district lawyers…

i wonder how many teachers could get their job back if all that money was put into that pot…..

Joy, that is what you SHOULD be trying to do instead of wasting everyone’s time and money with a frivilous lawsuit. If you can find enough like-minded people, great, you have used the PROPER vehicle for a citizen who is unhappy with a decision. Keep in mind that the last effort to recall the School Board related to closure also failed. Good thing the district has used its in-house lawyers instead of spending even more money on this.

Let’s recap, God forbid I make 25 great points and you neglect them all and to trounce on one weak one.

Yes, I have a right to protest and defend myself and my children when someone does something illegal to us. I am not trying to vilify Pathfinder, though I have a real problem with that Native American merchandising they hide behind so that nobody will touch them. (I’m part Native American too, by the way.) I don’t know how any of the Indian Nations let you get away with it. I am mortified about how naive and unsympathetic the Pathfinder Community seems to be about this whole closure situation, as if, collectively, it was not your fault, you’re just trying to get along,you’re victims, too, and you deserve what you want. “THE DISTRICT HAS EVICTED CHILDREN FROM THEIR SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL AND YOU ACT AS IF YOUR CHILDREN/PROGRAM ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR CHILDREN. You could have protested or refused the facility, like you refused all others availed to you. Pathfinder DID get help from Sundquist, He should be removed from office. WE HAVE ALL OF THE EMAILS!!! Didn’t one of you stand up in a meeting and say, “Let’s thank Steve Sundquist for getting us such a nice building?”

Sorry you didn’t like my scathing 9 page manifesto, but if you don’t like it, write your own.

Hey, Mary C. were you the Pathfinder Parent who said at a Pigeon Hill Neighborhood meeting and said, “I’m sorry to see Cooper go, but I’m glad that my child can now walk to school?” My child will enjoy being on a bus for an hour so your child can have that privilege, and also, “I hope that the Cooper school leaves all of their great stuff?

To the Pathfinder Community at large-
I’m sure most of you are lovely people, I’ve met many of you, but I am not impressed, honestly, Collectively, I just don’t find you to have much integrity (individually I’m sure you’re fine.), I just don’t find your community to be academically aware, from the few of you I’ve talked to, and judging from the rantings on these blogs, but then again, I am from New England, and people are just different there. Take some responsibility for what you people have done (EVICTING KIDS OF COLOR). There are consequences, and I think Seattle at large should know what has happened here in West Seattle. And stick to the point, people.

PS. The District may have hoped they obtained better counsel after all. A first year law student could have written a better, more relevant brief than the District’s lawyer.

PATHFINDER HAD NO CHOICE IN THE MATTER. THEY WERE AT ALL THE MEETINGS, AND SPOKE HONESTLY. THEY DIDN’T LIKE BEING PUT IN THE MIDDLE. SO PATHFINDER DIDN’T EVICT ANYONE.

SPEND A FEW HOURS AT PATHFINDER AND YOU’LL SEE HOW WE EDUCATE.

‘YOU PEOPLE’– WHEN YOU SAY THAT YOU IMPLY THAT WE ARE SOME DIFFERENT SPECIES- THAT’S SO PRE-CIVIL RIGHTS

THERE ARE KIDS OF COLOR ALL OVER BOTH SCHOOLS. JUST BECAUSE THERE ARE TWO OF ONE HERE AND 3 OF ANOTHER THERE DOESN’T MEAN THAT A SCHOOL SCHOOL SHOULD GET SPECIAL TREATMENT.

SHAME ON YOU FOR SAYING THAT YOU HAVE MET MANY PEOPLE FROM THE PATHFINDER COMMUNITY… YOU HAVEN’T. JUST LIKE I DON’T KNOW YOU IN ANY OTHER VIEW BESIDES THIS. I AM SURE YOU’RE A HOOT, BUT REGARDING THIS, I THINK THAT YOU’RE DIGGING FOR A PERSON TO BLAME, A POOR ROLE MODEL FOR REALISTIC CHANGE, AND DISHONEST.

I NEVER SAID THAT ‘I HOPE TEH COOPER LEAVES ALL THEIR GREAT STUFF’ BUT HAD I – IS THAT WRONG? NO, IT WOULD BE INSENSITIVE, BUT NOT WRONG.
IT WASN’T THAT I WANT TO WRITE MY OWN MANIFESTO, I JUST WOULD LIKE AN ACCURATE, HONEST ONE ON RECORD- IF IT REALLY HAS TO GO THAT FAR.

YOU SAY YOU’RE NOT TRYING TO VILIFY— AND I QUOTE
““THE DISTRICT HAS EVICTED CHILDREN FROM THEIR SUCCESSFUL SCHOOL AND YOU ACT AS IF YOUR CHILDREN/PROGRAM ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN OUR CHILDREN.””

IT MIGHT BE GOOD TO TAKE NOTES ON THE STUFF THAT YOU SAY SO THAT YOU QUIT THE DOUBLE TALK

Oh, I just talked to a source who I have sworn to anonymity, but I believe it was at a meeting where your “Beth Bakeman” (from Pathfinder ) thanked Sundquist for getting Pathfinder such a great building. I SWORE I would not out her. So sorry, there it is. My source has a mind like a trap. Ok, I’m done on the Pathfinder thread. Really, guys, enjoy your ill-gotten gains, aquired on the backs of the lesser peoples. It’s what we do in America

Pathfinder parents did not make the decision to move the Pathfinder program to the Cooper building. The decision has nothing to do with us. If it were up to me, the school would not move there. I don’t want your school building. And I’m not the one closing the Cooper program.

The Pathfinder school was threatened with closure a couple of years ago, fought the decision, and won. We were asked to move to other buildings in worse condition than the building we’re in now, which is run-down to the point that it has no heat in the classrooms until Wednesdays in the winter. It’s a dump, like most schools in the District. And parents have put up money and labor to fix it up. We didn’t make the Seattle public schools the disgraceful armpits that they are. We’re doing the best we can with what we have to work with, just like everyone else.

While I believe anyone who wants to protest has the right to do so (go for it, by all means), there is no reason to vilify an entire community because you don’t agree with their approach to alternative education. Frankly, I don’t always agree with it myself, but it is the only alternative school in West Seattle, the only school doing expeditionary learning, the only school that treats our children like human beings instead of cogs in a machine, the only school where my special-needs kid would have a chance. Protest to the decision-makers, not to other parents.

I respect you and your comments and like your style. Thank you for a succinct, thought out, and kind response. At least Pathfinder got to fight the closure. We were just silenced and destroyed like the 3rd world citizens the District thinks we are.

My kid will be fine, she will probably be in school somewhere in Europe next year, as her father is European. I will come back to visit “Rome” when the Goodloe-Johnson has burned it to the ground. You may think that the Pathfinder to Cooper decision has nothing to do with you personally, but to the very few Pathfinder/AH people who conspired to make your dream a reality with the help of Steve Sundquist, shame on you. They worked on all of Pathfinder’s behalf, so you should all take the collective blame for this debacle. This is the point I am trying to make and you are just not accepting it. I’m sure 98% of you are above board, but something is rotten in the state of Denmark, folks…

sorry, I accidentally deleted a piece. I went to Phillips Academy, Andover, and though it was a private prep school, they were very into alternative learning and writing their own curriculum, etc, so I am familiar with alternative learning But Andover didn’t merchandise a people in order to sell its school, or make its program thrive on the backs of people. They did fundraising like everyone else. And a heck of a lot of it. How was Pathfinder allowed to turn down 3 different locations, Boren, Highland Park, and Fairmount Park? What if we just said WE weren’t leaving the Cooper building?

Joy, I have no idea. I don’t know what sort of back-room political struggles may or may not be going on. I’m just a parent who likes having a public alternative school program. We’re a low-income family. Private school is out of the question. Frankly, I thought the Native American angle at Pathfinder came across kind of “groovy white people in tie-dye” when I first checked it out, but there are various groups of people there, and not everyone who looks White is White. I don’t know how or why the Native American aspect of the program was launched. I don’t know who funds it. I chose the school because I didn’t want my kids sitting in rows like soldiers getting their souls sucked out, which is what I saw at other public schools I visited. I didn’t want them in a kindergarten classroom where everyone has to make a picture of sailboat out of triangles. I didn’t want them in a Spectrum classroom looking miserable and dour and like they’d rather be dead – or not in a Spectrum classroom and being treated like second-class citizens because they didn’t merit the Child Genius path through life. I wanted them to be in classrooms where they would be respected as individuals, where their creativity would be encouraged and supported. And I thought it would be better for them to hear about local tribes’ cultures than to grow up thinking the Europeans pulled up on an empty continent – which is what schools were like when and where I was a kid (where I was discriminated against – and still am – because of my ethnicity.) I didn’t engineer the Pathfinder program. I would be happy to see them change it to better serve the Native American community – or for the District to put money into a school that does. I don’t make the School District’s policies. I just want my kids to be in the healthiest, most positive environment available. Some of the Pathfinder teachers have helped my kids in ways I know would never have happened in a typical public school setting. The staff is very dedicated and they really care about the kids. I appreciate the teachers we’ve had.

So, Joy, what if you DID say you weren’t leaving the Cooper building? Give it a whirl. I would never tell you not to fight for what’s best for your kids or that your concern about being forced out of that building is not valid or that you should just suck it up and get over it. We all want what’s best for our kids. I think it really blows that the District has so little money, and people would rather put taxes into projects like a waterfront tunnel or a football stadium than into the welfare of all of our children.

Joy, sorry you are kind of nutty. Your rants are enough to convince me that you had you chance to speak your piece, you just didn’t convince anyone. Also, you may want to hold your barbs, because as an outside observer, your lawyer’s brief was poorly written and not at all convincing. If I were the judge, I would rule for the district right now. Trash the district all you want, but that was a well written and convincing brief.

To Joy A. – you may have graduated from an Ivy League school but you sure don’t sound that way. Physical threats are some of the most ignorant things to say and I highly doubt you would back up your mean streak talk if you truly found yourself in an alley with any of these people that have a concern for the greater community and dealing with the change now that it has happened. And guess what? A lof of us have been through this – it’s called change…maybe they didn’t teach you that at your rich school…

Have you even taken the opportunity to get to know Joy A.? She is trying to SAVE your school! One thing you should give her credit for is she is passionate about her child’s education and the education of all Cooper children. I have personally seen the effects of the(supposed)closure on the Cooper children, many have been in tears of never seeing friends again, stressed over never seeing their favorite teachers in the halls. Some parents are not as easily disconnected as you are. Also, she has not threatened anyone, maybe if you were a little more educated you would see that. Maybe if you were a little more educated you wouldn’t lay down and take what people give you, or maybe that is the reason why you are so used to change. If were more educated maybe you could stick to the facts instead of personally attacking people, before you actually get to know them. If some of you are so sick and tired move to Pathfinder I am sure you will be comfy there, or where ever the school district has assigned you since you take what people give you. By the way I am not a Cooper parent.

We shall discontinue the dark back alley scribblings and we shall do it now. Joy A.’s words were conveniently misinterpreted and twisted. And I know she feels very bad that any such meaning was derived. But it (incrediby) was. That theme shall not continue. Joy A. is physically harmless except when it comes to the safety, welfare of children. University of Wherever potshots and this brief and that one were poorly constructed, written…that stuffs all ok. Keep ’em sailing. But stay on the main street.

I agree with bOoBaLiNg. You are way out of line. My question is though: If Joy A. is so “stuck up” with an Ivy League education, why does her child attend a public school? I am sure with an Ivy League education she could afford to send her child to private school. This says more about her than you. Do us all a favor and stick to the issues, and stop putting your foot in your mouth. You are on the same side! Remember?

Mary, are you a product to the PF math program? $55 X 320 students is $17,600, and we haven’t spent nearly that yet. Where did you get $165,000?? If we had that much money, we’d take all of the kids to a field trip to…….China.

the PF math program is district wide. i looked quickly and i did 55*300… i was using my little calc and added an extra zero. my bad- i was mistaken- oh but i can admit it and move on!! i love the world explorer program…. FYI you couldn’t take all the kids to china on that :) tit for tat deary- let’s get out of the trenches- and act out age

Instead of using that money to go to China PF should have used it to renovate your school in addition to the $400,000 the district aloted PF to renovate. From what I hear from other PF parents it is so cold your children have to wear coats in the winter. Sounds like that is more important than going to China…..